Comments: 1-15, 16
I had to replace the radiator at 72000.
I have had to replace the same wheel cylinder four times.
Anything that could go wrong with the brakes has gone wrong with the brakes, and I have bought more brakes than any one person should.
The heater stopped working around 75000.
The ball joints went bad around 78000.
I could try to list everything that's gone wrong with this car, but this car has nickel and dimed me more than I expected.
Save yourself a lot of time, money, and frustration and don't buy a Dodge Status.
All I can say is that you should stay clear of Chrysler/Dodge products since this manufacturer has systematic quality issues. They make some pretty good SUVs/pick-ups that have a heavy duty design and will last long. Besides that, Chrysler hasn't produced a decent car for decades. They don't seem to have the determination, money or technology to produce cars that last as long as the competition. I've been offered second hand Dodge vehicles for rock bottom trade in prices, and still I've declined. All I can say, they are all bad and you should stay away from second hand Chrysler/Dodges even at rock bottom prices.
"All I can say is that you should stay clear of Chrysler/Dodge products since this manufacturer has systematic quality issues. They make some pretty good SUVs/pick-ups that have a heavy duty design and will last long. Besides that, Chrysler hasn't produced a decent car for decades. They don't seem to have the determination, money or technology to produce cars that last as long as the competition. I've been offered second hand Dodge vehicles for rock bottom trade in prices, and still I've declined. All I can say, they are all bad and you should stay away from second hand Chrysler/Dodges even at rock bottom prices."
I disagree. Any car at a rock bottom price is usually a good deal (depending on the car). I paid a $1,000 for my grandsons Neon. We replaced the head gasket and not much else. It's at 83,500 miles now and is doing fine. Not all Chrysler vehicles are bad. This Neon I have has gone 15 years and 83,000 maintenance neglected miles, and it's doing fine.
Chrysler makes vehicles just as good as the next. The truth is, someone is always going to end up with a lemon. ALWAYS. Want to know the only car that I've ever had trouble with? (This is going to kill you) A Honda Accord. yup, one of those imports that apparently lasts a million miles. Don't think so. But are there people that have had good Accords? Of course. Fact is, cars are machines. Machines break. End of story.
I'm not talking out of the blue here. Chrysler hasn't produced any quality passenger cars for decades. Stratus, 300M/Concord, Sebring, Grand Voyager, do I need to say more. All have serious issues. Engine, transmission, suspension, car electronics. It's a long list.
I think people get the wrong idea coming on a site and seeing a couple of people making broad statements about a whole car company. I agree with the person who says that cars are machines, and they can break. Here's my take:
Cars are indeed machines, assembled from mass produced parts. When you're assembling hundreds of thousands of units, all from millions of mass produced parts, there are chances for things to not go together correctly. Some of it may be due to an individual worker slacking off, some of it due to a subcontractor who delivered a batch of faulty parts, or maybe one vehicle is assembled with parts that just happen to be at the outer limits of the manufacturing tolerance range. With hundreds of thousands of units, there will be some failure rate.
Granted, there are design flaws in some models, with some weaker than others. But it mostly comes down to maintenance. You take a car with thin walled head castings, and give it to somebody who drives it hard, never bothers to flush out or even check the engine coolant, or tries to drive when the temperature gauge is buried and they will blow a head gasket.
You take the same car and treat it gently, and do all the maintenance, and it will last a long time and be a good car. And yet, you get exactly the opposite comments over the same car from both people. Both are right, for them.
Everybody knows about the bad ball joints on late '90s Dodge Dakotas and Durangos, and obviously that was a manufacturer's problem and not maintenance. And everybody knows about Neons that blow head gaskets, or the 4.7L or 2.7L Dodge engines, or 3.8L Ford engines that blow head gaskets or get engine sludge. But, not every Neon, Durango, Windstar or what have you is sitting in a junkyard. Most are still out there plugging along. The cars that fail are the ones that are pushed to failure. Of course, nobody ever thinks that they are "that person" who abuses their car. It's always the car's fault, which is just human nature.
"Everybody knows about the bad ball joints on late '90s Dodge Dakotas and Durangos, and obviously that was a manufacturer's problem and not maintenance. And everybody knows about Neons that blow head gaskets, or the 4.7L or 2.7L Dodge engines, or 3.8L Ford engines that blow head gaskets or get engine sludge. But, not every Neon, Durango, Windstar or what have you is sitting in a junkyard. Most are still out there plugging along. The cars that fail are the ones that are pushed to failure. Of course, nobody ever thinks that they are "that person" who abuses their car. It's always the car's fault, which is just human nature."
I could not agree more and could not have said this any better myself. I hear horrible comments about all of those vehicles you listed. And actually, I own a Dodge Neon. And my head gasket did go, but in the car's defense, I know for a fact that it was not taken care of by the previous owner. I got the head gasket fixed and I now take immaculate care of it. It has NEVER left me stranded, and always gets me where I need to go without complaining. A car is only as good as the person who maintains it.
Well I have to smile when I see commenters trying to put all the blame of car failures on drivers. I agree that some drivers abuse their cars and a lot of reasons for a short car life may be on the driver. Still the quality between brands varies a lot. And I'd say the Chrysler group is at the bottom of the barrel. I had a 97 that I surprisingly ran until last year. I bought it second hand back in 2001 for $1,500 with 70K miles on it, and the reason for the low price was a shot transmission and some other problems. Repairing this myself I was able to put this car back on the road for a total cost of less than $2,500.
It was when I saw the service record from the local dealer, I really had my doubts about this car. It had been in for repairs eight (8) times previously for various reasons; aircon, wheel bearings, one alternator, start lock switch, transmission cable, intake gasket, both front lights (due to letting in water) + a long list of electrical parts like coils and several engine sensors. All in all I was shocked that so many parts had been changed on a near new car. No wonder the seller wanted this car off her hands.
From 2001 to 2008 I ran this as a 'grocery getter' adding just about 50K miles and I undertook a further five (5) major repairs doing all work myself to keep costs down. At that point I chose to wreck this car with a slipping transmission (again), leaking head gasket, constant stalling problems, front end problems like tie rods needing replacement, front right wheel bearing, worn out rear bushings, a dead radio, 2 dead loudspeakers (burnt out wiring), a stuck heater switch, dead aircon (again) just to mention some of the problems. In the end I felt like driving a sinking ship.
So all this happened to me because I'm a bad driver? I think not. All this happened to me because Chrysler builds cars that are junk. If I hadn't fixed all myself I'd probably be bankrupt.
And my wife has had 2 low mileages Grand Voyagers which were been junk. Transmission went out on both just to mention something. But I guess this is also our fault, right?
Yes, case in point, the last comment is from "the guy who refuses to believe that he is abusing his car."
Plenty of other people have Caravans with no transmission problems, so why does all the bad luck happen to you?
"I'm not talking out of the blue here. Chrysler hasn't produced any quality passenger cars for decades. Stratus, 300M/Concord, Sebring, Grand Voyager, do I need to say more. All have serious issues. Engine, transmission, suspension, car electronics. It's a long list."
Yes Chrysler is not the proud marque that it once was. I doubt that it will be again anytime soon.
Based on my personal experience, their customer service is the worst I've ever dealt with. I would not have shed a tear had they not gotten a penny of bail-out money.
Transmission problems on Caravan/Voyagers is VERY common, just check for yourself, and the transmission put into these cars are considered among the worst transmissions ever built (not my words but words directly from the tech that rebuilds them for a living). The construction itself is simple and quite solid, it's just everything else that's wrong. A lot of the parts originally put into these transmissions are simply junk and they are poorly put together and suffers from inadequate cooling. That's why rebuilt units often are much better, given that the transmission shops know what they are doing, and they usually add a cooler for the rebuild.
The problem is further compounded by wrongly specified service specification and incompetent Dodge/Chrysler dealers. The first Grand Voyager we bought had never had its transmission fluid changed, even though it had a full service record. The dealer said 'it's not necessary and not specified by Chrysler'. But what I'm reading now is that the fluid should have been changed all along and Chrysler now says that regular transmission fluid changes are needed for these transmissions. To this fact I can only say to Chrysler and their engineers, welcome to common sense.
So the first transmission went because it had been run with burnt oil and when I changed the oil after one year of ownership (I bought this second hand 4 years old/55K miles on the clock) it was too late. It needed replacement after 68K miles, but the transmission guy said it probably wouldn't have lasted more than 100-120K anyhow even without burnt oil. The REAL problem is that the transmission does not have enough cooling and is somewhat under dimensioned for the Grand Voyager if fully loaded or used for towing. The only way to make it last is to never overstrain it (like never do heavy towing) and to change fluids often even if Chrysler originally said this was not necessary. So basically, if you use this transmission like it was intended to be used and maintain it according to specification it'll break on you. But if you treat it like it was made out of porcelain, maybe it'll reach 200K like somebody claims.
The second transmission on our 2003 just went dead on us after two (2) years and was fixed under warranty due to a manufacturing defect. We sold this piece of junk and my wife is now driving a Ford E150 that's built like a tank. Everybody says the fuel economy is bad on these, but the fact is that on long trips the fuel consumption is not much worse than our first Grand Voyager.
Well, I'm not trying to insult anybody or start an argument. I'm just a believer in religious maintenance and treating a car gently. What some people consider treating a car like fragile porcelain might be normal usage for me. And what some people consider normal, I would consider the equivalent of playing on the tire swing in the gorilla compound.
I do agree that some designs are weak, and I also agree that sometimes the manufacturer's recommended service is not adequate. That's why whenever I get a used vehicle, I immediately change oil/filter, change transmission fluid/filter, check differential fluid levels, flush engine coolant, change air filter, and get the brakes checked. That way I know just where I stand, because I assume that the previous owner has probably done nothing. I also follow the service intervals in the Haynes Manuals, which I buy from Amazon as soon as I get the car home. The Haynes Manuals usually recommend maintenance intervals that are about twice as frequent (half as long) as the manufacturer.
I change oil using Mobil 1 synthetic every 3,000 miles, and would never wait 5,000 or 7,000 miles like some people. Maybe that means that I could have driven a notorious Dodge 2.7 L or 4.7 L successfully. And I know many manufacturers say "transmission fluid never needs to be changed and is good for the life of the car", but I interpret that to mean the first five years that the original owner has it. When I bought my 4-year old truck with 75,000 miles, I had it all changed, like I described. That was 35,000 miles ago, and no problems yet.
A vehicle is such a large investment, and so many people just don't take care of them. Yeah, I do treat mine like porcelain compared to some because I know how fragile they really are, and intend for mine to last. If other people want to do other things, that's up to them.
Several of the transmissions used in these cars have major reliability issues. Especially the A604 transmission, which is notorious for premature failure. There are several recalls related to these transmissions, but keeping them working is almost impossible without a modification rebuild (you basically changes much of the internal working parts and some of the electronics). To claim that Chrysler/Dodge did not have major transmission problems in the nineties and up to recent time, means that you have not got your facts straight.
"21st Oct 2009, 08:44
To claim that Chrysler/Dodge did not have major transmission problems in the nineties and up to recent time, means that you have not got your facts straight."
I don't see that anyone has claimed that. But even with a weak design, it is possible to extend the life by treating it gently. Yes, "everyone" has heard about Chrysler with weak transmission and yet not "everyone" has had their transmission fail. I think you are overstating the problem.
So Chrysler may have had some transmission issues, although I have owned several and never had an issue, but have you happened to have looked at any other manufactures lately? People just start going crazy and are ready to fight about how bad Chrysler transmissions are, but have you seen any of the reviews for Honda and Acura?? It seems that they just can't get it right either...
@ 21st Oct 2009, 11:25.
You have a valid point, and you are of course right, but when you have a transmission failure after doing a 400 mile tow when the trailer is within the vehicles specifications, you may wonder how much care you need to take to preserve the life of the transmission. Chrysler should at least say that this car is not up the job if you try to run this car in the summer doing a route with a lot of hills and at the same time towing a trailer. It means that this is just another unnecessary thing you need to take into consideration.